Marketing | Jane Frankland

March 11, 2019

Personal branding: Do you really need it in cybersecurity? This will help you decide!

By JaneFrankland | Cyber security, Marketing | No Comments

My father is neither a politician nor businessman but when I was growing up he always ensured I understood the value of personal branding. He didn't call it this though. All he told me to do was to value my surname and protect it. To me that meant showing integrity, doing what I said I was going to do, and being really good at it. It’s a lesson I’ve never forgotten.

First impressions count. Today, more so than ever. You see, as of today, you are who Google says you are. When someone Google’s your name, the first page of results is how the world sees you. This is your reputation and it’s online for the whole word to see.

The connection between your reputation and cybersecurity is real and continuous. It's more than just protecting an organisation's online assets. It’s actually about protecting trust, which enables us to innovate, collaborate, build wealth and maintain peace whilst using technology for human progress. And trust, as Niloofar Razi Howe, cybersecurity strategist and entrepreneur, so rightly said in her keynote at RSA Conference this year,

“…is to the economy what water is to life.”

August 22, 2015

The shocking truth about being a cyber security entrepreneur

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, New business, Sales | No Comments

Thinking about being a cyber security entpreneur?

The shocking truth about being a cyber security entrepreneur

As you're a cyber security entrepreneur or want to be, I'm going to start off with 5 exciting facts.

Fact 1. The world is getting bigger and busier.
Fact 2. Opportunities abound.
Fact 3. Entrepreneurship is trending and cyber security is hotter than ever.
Fact 4. According to the latest statistics, by 2019, this sector is set to be worth $155.74bn.
Fact 5. The market is maturing. It's now threat aware and risk educated. Governments and businesses are paying attention too. For, cybercrime is costing between $300bn and $1trn in annual global losses, and it’s rising.

December 19, 2014

Six Hot Business Development Trends for 2015

By JaneFrankland | Established business, Marketing, Sales | No Comments

2015 is almost upon us and if you're using social platforms to grow your business or sales there's plenty of good news. For example, social audiences continue to grow worldwide and modern business development methods, such as social media marketing and social selling are becoming more widely accepted as ways to deliver exponential growth when implemented correctly.

So, let's look at the six top business development trends to watch out for in 2015 and how you can leverage them in an ever-evolving social business ecosystem.

November 7, 2014

7 Dumb Mistakes That Smart Business Owners Make With Social Media

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, New business, Selling | One Comment

Social media is a lot like coffee. You'll either love it, consume a lot of it and get energized over it, or you won't. Instead, you'll hate it, sweat over it and become exhausted.

Whatever it does to you, be aware. Social media, just like coffee, is big business and it's here to stay.

So if you want to keep your client base happy and attract others, you must know how to use it effectively.

This 11-page report that's entitled 7 Dumb Mistakes That Smart Business Owners Make With Social Media, has been compiled due to popular demand. Repeatedly I see the same mistakes being made when business owners pursue social media as a tool for business development. Repeatedly too, I get asked how to spot social media fakers, rectify their shoddy work and advise on implementing it strategically and intelligently.

October 18, 2014

What Is Social Selling & Why Should You Care? [Part 4]

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, Sales, Selling, social media | No Comments

In Part 3 of What Is Social Selling and Why Should You Care, I discussed how you can move opportunities through the pipeline faster, free up yourself (and your sales team) to move on to new prospects, and lower acquisition costs.

In Part 4, (the final in this series) I'll be going through how you can achieve greater client lifetime value, make bigger deals and retain more clients.

October 8, 2014

What Is Social Selling & Why Should you Care? [Part 3]

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, Sales, Selling, social media | No Comments

In Part 2 of What Is Social Selling and Why Should You Care, I discussed how you can get more and better leads. In Part 3, I’ll be looking at how social selling methods will help you shorten your sales cycle. I’ll be going through how you can:

Move opportunities through the pipeline faster
Free up your sales team so you can move on to new prospects
Lower your acquisition costs

September 21, 2014

What Is Social Selling & Why Should You Care? [Part 2]

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, Selling, social media | No Comments

In part 1 of ‘What is social selling & why should you care?' I wrote about how buying has changed and how you now need to sell in a different manner if you’re going to build a strong sales pipeline and exceed your revenue targets. In this post I’m going to expand upon this and show you how you can get more and better leads.

As you now know much of the buying process occurs before your buyer reaches out to a salesperson. However, what you may not be aware of is that it’s not happening behind closed doors. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Buyers are in your sight-line and good leads are there for you – in full view.

Yes, your buyers are on social media. And, there they're talking about their business needs, asking questions about issues in their industry, revealing intelligence about their own companies and reaching out to their peers for advice.

So, the question begs. If they’re doing all of this, why aren't you there too? Why aren't you socially surrounding them and recognising their buying signals so you can be of help?

September 15, 2014

What Is Social Selling & Why Should You Care? [Part 1]

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, Selling, social media | No Comments

Over the past few months there's been a lot of hype over social selling so I'm going to explain exactly what it is (and means) in a series of posts. The first starts here – obviously!

Meet Jessica. She's a a buyer and she's looking for a supplier. She doesn’t do a Google search and then call to make her inquiry. Instead, she searches Google, reviews the supplier’s website, considers their services, checks their reviews and reaches out to her connections for verification or recommendations. If she thinks they're OK, after having done all that and having compared them to other suppliers, she then makes contact via email or the phone.

Chances are, you're no different to her. When you're looking for a new supplier you do the same thing.

Why?

Well it’s because buying has changed.

And, it doesn’t matter who you are or what industry you’re in, that's a fact.

Today’s buyers are better informed and better connected thanks to technology. Social media had lead the way and revolutionized everything.

And, as a result we need to sell in a different manner – that is if we’re going to outperform our peers and the competition (of course).